Liz & Roger Neale being interviewed by Radio Cumbria presenter Helen Millican.
'Volunteering in any capacity is so rewarding – especially knowing that you can contribute in some way to the understanding and future wellbeing of our natural world.'
Liz & Roger Neale
Liz and Roger Neale have spent a lifetime dedicated to protecting and sharing their love of nature. We're proud to have them on board as some of our longest-standing volunteers. They're a true example of making caring for nature an integral part of life.
Here's more from Liz:
'Roger and I met at Teacher's College and have shared our interest in the natural world ever since. We’ve both had an interest in the natural world since childhood, spending a lot of time exploring the countryside near our respective homes.
We also both had inspiring teachers who encouraged us to really notice nature and make careful observations. As teachers, we endeavoured to encourage the children we taught to enjoy and investigate the wildlife around them. Children are naturally inquisitive!
We joined local natural history societies wherever we lived, enjoying field trips and learning from older, more experienced naturalists. After moving to the Settle area in the 1980s, we joined the newly formed Cumbria Wildlife Trust Kirkby Lonsdale Local Support Group.
We then decided to start a Wildlife Watch group for children, with support from Cumbria Wildlife Trust. At home, we had a large garden with a covered area for activities, so arranged events at home when we weren’t taking the children on field trips.
We’re so proud of everything we achieved with this small but enthusiastic group. We organised camp outs, where we did things like moth trapping and writing nature poetry from group members’ observations. To mark the Millennium, we arranged an exhibition with artwork from our members and children from local primary schools, alongside exhibits from environmental organisations.
We made annual visits to South Walney Nature Reserve to see the gull colony, and made bird nest boxes for the Ingleton Waterfall Trail, visiting and checking them each year with the group. We still do this every now and again, providing replacements when needed.
During this time, I was a committee member at our Cumbria Wildlife Trust local group and still am. Roger has been the Programme Secretary for many years, providing interesting speakers on lots of different topics for our winter meetings, and leading guided walks.
We’ve also been involved with monitoring the population of grey seals that haul up on the spit at South Walney – we never imagined that there would be so many when we first started! [A record number were counted in 2021!]
Most recently, we were introduced to radio presenter Helen Millican, who had heard about our wildlife garden which we’ve started to open to the public to support Cumbria Wildlife Trust. She visited us on a beautiful day and thought the garden would make an interesting item for her show on Radio Cumbria.
Throughout all of our activities, we’ve really appreciated the help and support of the staff at Cumbria Wildlife Trust. They are so friendly and welcoming. Volunteering in any capacity is so rewarding – especially knowing that you can contribute in some way to the understanding and future wellbeing of our natural world.'